Contains Language
by Merlin Missy
Summary: There are over two hundred words in the Thanagarian language for 'enemy.'  Spoilers up through 'Destroyer'


Contains Language  
a Justice League Unlimited story  
by Merlin Missy  
Copyright 2006  
PG

* * *

DC, Warner Bros. and the estate of H.P. Lovecraft, yadda yadda yadda. Spoilers up through "Destroyer." Could be considered birthdayfic, and also a drop-in scene for **quillofminerva**'s "The Wedding." (Title swiped shamelessly from Neil Gaiman.)

* * *

There are over two hundred words in the Thanagarian language for "enemy." Fifty for "coworker." Twenty-nine for "friend." Twelve for "lover." 

Sometimes the hardest problem Shayera has in her day to day life with the League is the recontextualization of language. She must learn to relearn to speak. She must watch eyes and arms and hands (though not the position of the wings, a primary indicator of intent in Thanagarian Low Speech) to determine _which_ enemy, what _kind_ of coworker.

_Gr'dn'leth_ means "blood enemy." _Derleth_ means "enemy who was once my friend." _B'moth_ means "enemy for the purposes of this battle exercise." _Hastur_ means "enemy of my clan, with whom I may have no personal grudge." She uses _hastur_ in her mind when considering the archcriminals they battle. She has sworn oaths (oath --- _lin_; oath that has been broken --- _zoth_; lover's oath, or Promise --- _xoth_, and although Thanagarians don't joke often, much wordplay has been made on the latter two). Her _lin_ to the League encourages her to battle the _hasturim_ and she does so with joy-that-consumes (_yaa_).

Over five hundred words mean "battle," the action and the celebration and the sacrament, were their people to hold things sacred. There is battle undertaken to fight the blood enemy (_gr'dn'pe_) and battle within family (_cthypon_) and battle within the self (_carcosa_) and battle as an act to restore lost honor (_napon_) and battle as foreplay (_pon-yaa_) and battle as life-journey (_lyehape_) and sometimes all are the same thing (_ponape_).

_Nagoob_ is the word for "unexpected friend." She thinks of Wally this way and Mari as well, although the latter is also _nagosa_, "friend I may battle someday," because she is _idh-leth_, romantic rival. Shayera does not tell her these words, nor will she ever tell that saying "_idh-leth_" with wings extended indicates "prey."

When she first arrived on Earth, she learned every language she could. She can swear in Farsi and Inuit and Polish but it is English which she uses most frequently around her coworkers. (_Ctharim_ --- warriors gathered for a common purpose, usually protection of the nest; _Joshim_ --- warriors gathered for a common purpose, usually _gr'dn'pe_ or _hast'pe_) For three years, when people spoke of fighting enemies, she had to ask which ones. After J'onn called the _ctharim_ together that first time, she settled into the routine of _hast'pe_, a dangerous relaxation as she learned later.

_Idh-than_ is loyalty to homeland; her own native tongue will not allow her not to love Thanagar. _Sathla_ performs double-duty, meaning both "traitor" and "corpse."

_Idh-xoth_ is loyalty to one's lover. _Zhah_ is the feeling of loss that follows a broken heart. _Naponzhah_ is frowned upon but still occurs. She would wonder if that was what Hro thought as he died, but she knows it to be so.

_Tsat_ is the lover one takes for a short time, often out of loneliness; this is the word she murmured in Carter's bed, though she did not tell him why. _Tsatim_ often follow _zhah_ and some last though most do not. There is a caste of Thanagarians called the _tsat-yaa_, male and female, and for coins they become _tsatim_ for an hour or a night or a week. By law they can wear neither mask nor earring. (_Pon-thoth_ --- mask worn for war; _cthar-thoth_ --- family mask, worn in social situations; _tsat-thoth-na_ --- maskless whore.)

Hro asked her if John was _tsat_ and she could not reply. She knows the world would not have changed had she answered yes or no, but she might have spared Hro the _zhah_ had she lied. She remembers reclining in Hro's arms, years ago, idly wondering what their _cthlim_ would be like, if they would have his eyes, her hair. Batman told her the tiny fragments he knew about her _cthla_: her eyes, John's face. This knowledge is a greater _zhah_ upon those she already carries, but she has no stomach for _naponzhah_. She wonders on nights when she tries to sleep and fails if that makes her weaker than Hro, or stronger.

Her own name means "bitter." It means other things as well but that was the primary definition before it became a proper name and thus lost most meaning other than "female's name." Sometimes the thought amuses her. More often, she believes it would be yet another barb for those in the League who will always consider her _derleth_ despite all she does (and tries to do, and fails to do).

On Thanagar, if any still live and know of her betrayal, she will be _derleth_ and _sathla_ and _tsat-thoth-na_ and she has earned each one of these words, wears them on her soul though none can see.

J'onn cannot read her thoughts but after having fractured Kragger's mind, he understands Thanagarian speech. When the League put her on suicide watch, he came to her quarters and spoke with her quietly in a language she felt unworthy to hear. He has returned to them now, a _kthanid_ or long-missing brother, and his own prolonged loneliness has been eased. _Idh-ghat_ means "mate" and she is an unanticipated match for J'onn but a good one. Shayera likes her, likes who J'onn has become because of her. My'ri'ah will forever be his _idh-yaa_, but he has found peace in one who is not merely _tsat_.

Shayera is ashamed to look at J'onn and feel _aphoom_, the desire for something one cannot ever have, but then, she is used to _aphoom_. Her _idh-yaa_'s _tsat_ will soon become his _idh-ghat_, her own _cthla_ will never exist, and she is certain there will be no end to the _shayera zhah_ in her soul.

* * *

The End

* * *


End file.
